


Miraculous: Eala and Delphin

by Bionic_Egypt



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Also Eala's a mute swan, And Ollor and Iniidae too, F/M, Kinda, Miracusona story, No akumas or Hawkmoth, Swan and Dolphin, That's what Eala and Delphin mean, They're called colubras and Vipera, aka snakes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-06-05 06:45:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6693709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bionic_Egypt/pseuds/Bionic_Egypt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Crimson Bay, California, something evil is lurking. Who are these two new heroes? Can they save the city from evil before Christmas break? Only time will tell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Magical Girls . . . Kinda

**Author's Note:**

> So I have started writing a miracusona story. Bask in its complete ridiculousness. Have you basked yet? No? Good. I didn’t think you would. Please excuse my stupidity and try to enjoy Magical Girls . . . Kind of.

Helen Burns smiled as the midday sun warmed her face. It was a beautiful summer afternoon, her best friend Will was annoying a nearby food vendor about the source of his wares, and she had only two weeks more until school started back up. Tenth grade was going to be really great! She couldn’t wait to start her special effects makeup class and completely blow the teacher away with her skills. At least, she hoped so.

 

As she listened to Will’s voice gain anger and volume as he didn’t get the answers he was looking for, Helen laughed softly to herself. Some things never changed. Will was actually the reason neither of them were allowed back to the bowling alley, after an argument about how clean the shoes were made the manager mad.

 

Helen was so preoccupied with listening to Will’s argument –they’d have to find somewhere else to eat after this, she was certain –that she nearly missed a little old man hobble along and fall into the path of an oncoming bicycle. But she did see him, so she leaped from the bench and dove toward him, pulling him out of harm’s way. The angry cyclist dinged his little bell at them as he pedaled past, but Helen didn’t pay him any attention. He should have slowed down!

 

“Are you alright, sir?” she asked, violet eyes filled with concern. “Do you need me to call someone?”

 

The man shook his head. “No thank you. That was very brave, what you did.”

 

Helen waved it off. “It was nothing. Anyone would have done the same. Are you sure you’re alright?”

 

“I’m quite fine, miss. Thank you.”

 

He hobbled off as Will came jogging toward her, two subs in hand. Huh. He must’ve won the argument after all.

 

* * *

 

 

Arion Moore looked at the water and sighed. It was a pity that his parents didn’t want him swimming in the harbor. Sure, Crimson Bay wasn’t the cleanest city in all of California, but it was better than most! He’d even tried to get a job manning a gondola, but his parents would have none of it. He was only allowed to swim in the public pool, where Wisteria’s –Wisty, she liked to be called –swim team held their practices.

 

“Ari!” said swimmer called from the water below. “Come on! It won’t bite!”

 

Arion shook his head, his black bangs falling into his face. “Sorry, Wisty! Mom and Dad will kill me if I jump in!”

 

The girl rolled her sapphire eyes. “Your loss,” she yelled back before diving under the water.

 

He watched her swim around for a little while longer, amazed at how fast she could swim. Arion would have happily spent the rest of his day just hanging out with his best friend, but luck would have it that things wouldn’t go as planned.

 

An elderly man stumbled near the edge of the water, threatening to fall in. Arion shot toward the man like a dart, pulling him away from what would have been an awful disaster.

 

“Sir, are you alright?” he asked as he righted the man.

 

The elderly gentleman nodded, tearing his eyes away from the water and aiming them at Arion. “I’m fine, thanks to you.”

 

“Seriously, though, are you okay enough to get to where you’re going on your own? Because I can help you get there if you want. I don’t want you to fall into a canal later on,” he insisted.

 

The man brushed it off. “I’m sure I can get there by myself. Thank you for your concern, though.”

 

As the senior walked away, he left a dumbfounded Arion in his wake. What had just happened? And why did it feel like this was the start of something he wasn’t sure he wanted?

 

* * *

 

 

When Helen got home that evening, she collapsed onto her bed and groaned. Ugh, she was going to regret staying out all day. She could feel the sunburn already. Time to go find the aloe. After forcing herself to stand back up, Helen noticed something was different about her nearby desk. There was her makeup kit, her model on which to sculpt faces, and her tablet filled with drawings and ideas for creatures. But there was something else, too.

 

An old box with a red pattern on the top sat among her things.

 

Curious, Helen picked it up and opened it. Inside rested a necklace with a wing-shaped pendant, five white feathers carved into the black metal. Well, it was very pretty, but where had it come from? Thinking maybe her mother had salvaged it from her parents’ antique shop, Helen clasped it around her neck. The most amazing thing happened next.

 

A pale grey orb of light burst to life in front of her, spinning and vanishing to reveal a tiny bird-like creature with a black mask over its eyes, like a swan. And then it talked.

 

“You must be my new cygnet!” it chirped happily.

 

Helen did the only thing she could do in that situation.

 

She fainted.

 

* * *

 

 

When Arion got home, he ignored his parent’s plea to come watch TV with them, choosing instead to go to his room. Today had been seriously strange. Wisty had acted like the old guy he saved hadn’t even existed! What was with that? She didn’t normally pull pranks like this; she usually just put plastic wrap on things he was going to use.

 

He was so caught up in his thoughts, in fact, that he barely noticed the box sitting on his desk. But Arion did eventually notice it, and when he did, he opened it up. Inside rested a bracelet with a silver band along the worn leather strap. Carved into the metal were five stylized water droplets, all a royal blue. It wasn’t his usual style –of say, no jewelry –but Arion couldn’t deny that it had his interest. If it was a gift from his parents, then they were probably saying sorry for the Summer of No Swimming ™. If a creep broke into his house and left it there, then that seemed fairly self-explanatory, however unlikely. Shrugging to himself, Arion tied the bracelet around his wrist. He felt a charge in the air, as if something big was about to happen. An instant later, he realized what that something was.

 

A blue orb of light, matching the hue of the water drops, appeared before him. It spun and swirled, revealing a tiny floating dolphin-like creature. It smiled –how can a dolphin _smile?_ –at him, making a happy little dolphin call before it completely shattered Arion’s world.

 

“You’re my chosen, right? I’m Iniidae, your kwami!” it chittered.

 

Arion sat down hard onto his bed. This was not happening. This _was not_ happening. This was _not happening_. There was a tiny flying aqua-blue dolphin speaking English in his bedroom. Well, he’d better go and get his parents to check him into the funny farm; obviously he’d gone off the deep end.

 

He hadn’t realized he was talking out loud until the dolphin thing, Iniidae, responded.

 

“Oh, please don’t go to the farm! I hate farms; they never have enough water for sea mammals. I can’t just go around in a fish bowl, you know!”

 

Arion looked at the dolphin with wide sea-green eyes. Was that thing seriously real? “W-what are you?” he forced between his teeth.

 

Iniidae blinked his enormous eyes at the teen. “I told you!” he said. “I’m a kwami! I help you turn into a superhero to fight bad guys. Vipera has been turned evil, so the Master decided to give us to new Miraculous Wielders!”

 

Arion nodded slowly. “So . . . you want me to be a superhero?”

 

The dolphin nodded. “Yes! Will you do it?”

 

He thought to himself for a few moments. Well, there were three choices here: he accepted and became an actual superhero, he accepted and later discovered he was delusional, or he declined and never took the chance to become something great. There was really only one choice he wanted to make.

 

“Alright. I’ll be your hero. But do I get a cool name?”

 

* * *

 

 

“Cygnet! Please wake up!” a tiny chirpy voice called through the sleepy haze that trapped Helen’s mind. “I didn’t mean to scare you!”

 

Cygnet? Who was Cygnet? Forcing one eye open first, then another, the girl stared up at a fuzzy little blob of white. She blinked a few times, clearing her vision. Oh no. So it wasn’t a dream.

 

A tiny swan was flying about a foot from her face, though its wings didn’t flap at all. Two stringy feeler-like things extended from where its wings met its body. Did she mention it was talking? Because it was talking.

 

“I’m so sorry!” it pleaded in a distinctly feminine voice. “I didn’t mean to scare you, cygnet!”

 

“W-who’s Cygnet?” Helen managed to ask. Then she mentally slapped herself. Really? That was the first question she asked?

 

The bird chuckled in a light voice. “Cygnet is what a baby swan is called. I call all of my chosen cygnet, unless they don’t want me to. Let’s start over; I’m Ollor! I’m a kwami, and I want you to be my new Swan. You’ll get to fight evil and be loved by the whole city! But please accept soon; Vipera is getting stronger by the day and Iniidae’s calf can’t do it all on their own.”

 

“Fight evil?” she echoed. “Save the city? I can’t do all that! I’m just a makeup artist!”

 

“But with my help, you can be more! You can be a hero!” Ollor bribed. “Please, cygnet?”

 

“My name is Helen,” she corrected. “And . . . I’m not sure. I never really wanted to be a hero.”

 

“But you were chosen for a reason! Please, Helen? Do it for your city! Do you really want everyone to become victim to an evil snake?”

 

Well, if that was all . . . No, Helen already knew what her answer was. There was no choice she could make that would keep her out of this completely, so she only had one real option.

 

“Fine. I’ll do it. But I want to pick my own name.”

 

Ollor gave a happy -yet-hoarse trumpeting noise as she flew around the girl. “Oh, thank you cy- I mean, Helen. You won’t regret this!

 

Helen was pretty sure she already did.


	2. Firsts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes first meeting, as well as their first patrol. Kind of, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m baaaack! Thought you got rid of me, huh? I’m just kidding. Oh, before I forget, when picturing Iniidae, I literally just think of an adorably-blue version of Dr. Blowhole from Penguins of Madagascar without the eye piece, if that helps you any. Anyway, please enjoy Firsts.

Arion looked down at Iniidae, who was happily splashing around in a bowl of cool water. He was the oddest little thing the boy had ever seen. He looked a lot like a dolphin, but cuter and very blue. And he liked fish sticks. Lots of fish sticks, actually, since the kwami had already gone through two boxes of Gorton’s finest. It was a little concerning, really. Where did Iniidae put it all?

 

Arion chose to ignore that and sat down in front of his computer. Iniidae had said he could come up with his own superhero name, and since he was apparently going to be a dolphin-themed one, he figured he’d better do some research. He didn’t want to be known as ‘that one weird kid who dresses up like a dolphin and saves Crimson Bay.’ No, he wanted a cool name.

 

Five minutes later, however, he had come up empty.

 

“Hey, Iniidae?” he called out. “What was your last chosen called?”

 

The tiny kwami stopped splashing around for a moment, considering. “He was Dauphin, which means dolphin in French, even though he was from England. Ugh, I hated that place! Did you know that legally all of the dolphins and swans in England belong to the queen? It was awful! But, oh, you should have seen Ollor’s face when she was caught in the Swan Upping! I don’t think I’ve ever laughed that hard!”

 

Arion wasn’t sure what to do with that information, but he knew he wasn’t going to call himself Dauphin. How stupid was that?

 

“Were there any dolphin gods?” he wondered aloud.

 

Iniidae surprised him by answering. “Yep! Delphin helped Poseidon in the Greek myths. Why?”

 

Hmm, a helpful dolphin god named Delphin? It wasn’t as stuffy as Dauphin, but it wasn’t as stupid as just plain old Dolphin. Yeah, he could work with that.

 

“Alright,” Arion decided. “I’ll be Delphin.”

 

* * *

 

 

Helen found herself immersed in a story she’d just found about a swan who learned to accept fate’s plans and became beautiful because of it when she heard a small rumbling noise coming from Ollor’s direction. Oh god, was the kwami about to explode?! Could they even do that?! With violet eyes wide, Helen looked over at the bird-like creature. Ollor had a wing pressed to her stomach, a sheepish (can swans look sheepish?) look on her face.

 

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I’m just hungry. I haven’t eaten in ten years.”

 

“What do you eat?” the girl questioned, figuring it to be polite.

 

“Bread, mostly. I’ll eat any kind you can give me, but my last cygnet made me an amazing rosemary bread that she copied from her favorite restaurant,” she admitted.

 

Rosemary bread? That actually sounded really good. Helen made a mental note to look up a recipe for it later, but right now she had to go get Ollor something to eat. She was pretty sure they had some rye bread in the kitchen . . .

 

A few minutes later, Ollor was buried up to her beak in bread while Helen continued searching for her superhero name. A lot of the stories she’d found came from the areas around Ireland, so maybe she could be called whatever swan was in Irish? It was worth a shot. With a quick search, Helen had her name.

 

Eala. That was what she would be called. But how was she supposed to be a hero? Was there a suit? Magic? Something had to happen, right?

 

“So, how does this work?” she wondered aloud. “Like, how do I become a hero?”

 

“I transform you,” Ollor explained, nibbling on a slice of wheat bread. “All you have to say is ‘Ollor, wings unfurl’ and you’ll become a hero. Maybe you should go ahead and try transforming and moving around the city. It’s best if you try out your wings before your first battle, and sometimes my swans have . . . extra qualities in the suit.”

 

Helen wasn’t sure what that meant, but she couldn’t see anything wrong with Ollor’s suggestion. With only a slight hesitation, she called out the transforming phrase.

 

“Ollor! Wings unfurl!”

 

“Wait, not–" but Ollor was cut off as she was absorbed into Helen’s necklace. The pendant, which had become a silver triangle the moment Ollor escaped, returned to the wing Helen had seen before. A grey energy ran up her body, turning her comfy jeans and tank top into a white body suit. The energy finally came to a stop around her face. She felt an odd sort of weight on her back, though it wasn’t too noticeable.

 

Helen blinked the light from her eyes after the transformation had finished. When she looked in the mirror, she was amazed. The white suit faded into black boots and grey gloves. The transformation had even created enormous white wings that hung from her shoulders, along with a black mask that hid her identity. She was a superhero! She had _wings!_ This was amazing! Happily, she tried to call out to Ollor –if magic existed, maybe the kwami could still hear her –but to her amazement, no sound came out.

 

Her voice was _gone!_

 

Panicking, she tried to say something, anything. Why couldn’t she talk? What had she done?! As she kept trying to make some sort of noise, a feeling of knowledge brushed against her mind. _Untransform_ , it whispered, telling her how to do just that. Without hesitation, Helen mouthed “Wings fold!”

 

As the grey energy raced back up her body, taking with it the suit and the wings and the mask, Ollor popped out of the necklace and landed on Helen’s desk. She looked slightly tired, as though just the transformation had drained her. Maybe it had. She’d been locked away for a decade, after all.

 

“Why couldn’t I talk?!” Helen demanded, grateful her voice was back. “What did you do to me?!”

 

Ollor at least had the sense to look ashamed. “I told you; sometimes my swans have different qualities when they’re transformed. Sometimes they’re mute. That just means you’ll be so connected with your partner that you won’t have to speak to communicate.”

 

“Partner?” she echoed. She was really getting confused. She’d just barely accepted that superheroes and magic existed, but now she had a partner, too?

 

“Yes. My counterpart, Iniidae, is probably talking to his calf right now. Either that or he’s eating fish sticks and playing around in a bathtub. You know how dolphins are; friendly and playful and never take anything seriously. Ugh, I could peck him to death sometimes! But he’s never chosen wrong before. Your partner will be perfect for you, trust me.”

 

Helen sat down, mind spinning with all of this new information. Honestly, despite how freaked out she was about the whole thing, she had to admit it was pretty cool. Who else could say they were going to be a real life superhero? There was just one last question she had for the kwami.

 

“Do the wings actually work?”

 

* * *

 

 

Arion looked out his window as Iniidae chittered happily in his bowl. He’d never seen anything in his whole life that was as happy as the kwami. Just as he was about to ask Iniidae to keep it down –what if his parents heard him? –he caught a glimpse of something outside. A bright streak of white flew by the window, just slow enough for Arion to pick out the shape of the wings propelling it forward.

 

“Hey, Iniidae?” he called. “You said something earlier about a partner, right? Any chance they’re a bird?”

 

“Swan,” the dolphin corrected. “Why?”

 

“Because a white blur with wings just flew past my window,” he explained.

 

“Oh, that’s your partner! Go meet them! Wait, transform first!”

 

Arion looked at the kwami, staring into his sea-green eyes with confusion. “How do I do that?”

 

Iniidae tilted his head, as if trying to remember. “Oh, right! You say ‘Iniidae, fins extend’ and I get sucked back into your bracelet.”

 

He studied the bracelet that the kwami had escaped from, noting how the band had changed from silver to gold and lost the water drops. Huh. When had that happened? “Alright,” he finally said “Iniidae, fins extend!”

 

In a rush of royal blue energy, the dolphin kwami spiraled into the accessory, bringing with him a wave of the magic. It swept up Arion’s body, turning his clothes into a form-fitting body suit. Once the light died down, he glanced in his mirror. Huh. Well, what else had he expected?

 

Instead of Arion, a superhero stood in his place. He wore a skin-tight suit, a white patch along his front and aqua blue for the rest. Twin fins extended from his ankles, small enough to run without worrying about tripping but big enough to help him should he decide to swim. The suit formed a hood in the shape of a dolphin’s head, covering most of his messy black hair. His sea-green eyes peered out from behind a mask that matched the blue of his suit.

 

“Cool,” he said, startled by how out of place his voice seemed.

 

He looked around for Iniidae, but of course he was gone. He was inside the bracelet now, so Arion was on his own.

 

No, _Delphin_ was on his own.

 

* * *

 

 

Eala flew unsteadily over the streets of Crimson Bay, doing her best to stay aloft. Sneaking out had been harder than she’d thought; who knew her wings would be so cumbersome? They’d barely fit through her window. But once she was out, she had taken to the skies. Flying was amazing! She’d never felt this free before. How could she go back to walking on the ground when she could fly whenever she wanted?

 

She was just about to turn around and fly the other way when she noticed someone running toward the dark pier. Who was that? Was it a colubra? Ollor had warned her about Vipera’s minions. Eala adjusted her wings instinctively, soaring down to catch the person who could possibly cause destruction to her city.

 

Within seconds, she landed in front of him, wings extended menacingly. The expression on her face was pure defensive rage. Though, to her surprise, the person she landed in front of wasn’t angry. In fact, he looked elated.

 

He was also dressed like a blue dolphin.

 

“You must be my partner!” he greeted. “I’m Delphin. What’s your name?”

 

Eala shook her head. _I can’t speak_ , she mouthed. Delphin frowned back at her.

 

“You can’t talk? Why not?” he asked.

 

_Mute swan_ , she replied slowly. Then something caught her eye and she grinned. She pointed to the dark Ferris wheel that had closed only an hour ago.

 

Delphin looked where she pointed before staring at her with wide eyes. “We can’t go up there!” he cried. “We’d be trespassing!”

 

Eala shrugged. Fine, if he didn’t want to go, she wouldn’t force him, but she was going anyway. Just as she began to judge how to best take off from her position, Delphin spoke again.

 

“Alright, fine, I’ll go,” he said. “But if we get caught, it’s on you.”

 

Eala nodded, her smile returning full force. This could be fun. But how was she going to get them up there? She could barely keep herself up while flying! That’s when she remembered her fan. She had discovered the object moments into her second transformation. It was an enormous folding fan, mostly white –the handle part was a dark grey –with spikes that resembled feathers extending from the top. It was attached to her hip by a black wire that she had found would extend as long as she wanted it –up to a certain point at least. She couldn’t just extend it across the city or anything. She got the feeling the wire was supposed to let her keep a hold of the fan, but it might be able to haul Delphin up to the top of the Ferris wheel.

 

With a less-than-expert throw, Eala tossed the folded fan skyward, watching as it wrapped around the support beam of the highest basket. She pulled experimentally on the end of the wire in her grasp, pleased when it didn’t come tumbling down. She handed the wire to Delphin and mimed zipping upward to the rest of the fan.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he stated, disbelief in his sea-green eyes. “You want me to climb up this magic wire to the top? What if I fall?”

 

Eala mimed catching him with a smarmy grin on her face.

 

“You know, for a mute girl, you’re pretty sarcastic,” Delphin grumbled. “Alright, wish me luck.”

 

He tugged on the wire a bit, though still it refused to budge. With a sigh, he took a leap into the air, fully expecting to only get a few feet up. To his surprise, the wire responded to his movements, dragging him into the air at an alarming rate. After what seemed like an eternity of terrifying acrobatics, Delphin landed inside the basket, stunned at what he had just done. Seconds later, the mute heroine landed beside him and folded up her wings. She held out a hand, and it took him a few seconds to realize she was asking for her fan. He handed it back gladly.

 

“S-so,” he stuttered, still trying to calm his heart rate. “Do you come here often?”

 

She gave him a look, exaggerating her unusual violet eyes.

 

“Geeze, I’m just trying to start a conversation,” Delphin muttered. “Do you at least have a name, Madam Mystery?”

 

The white-clad girl tilted her head, as though she was thinking. Did she really not know if she had a name? Or was she trying to figure out how to tell him? After a while, she took her folded fan off her hip and started tapping the flat part facing her. She then showed him the weapon, revealing a tiny screen with a single word printed on it: Eala.

 

“Eala?” he asked. “That’s your name?”

 

Eala nodded, and then tied her fan back around her waist. Delphin was extremely jealous; why didn’t he get the awesome weapon with a screen? His arm fins –two sticks with a handle each and a wicked sharp fin attached to both of them –didn’t have a screen! But then again, neither had Eala’s fan. At least, not until she wanted it to. Maybe his fins worked the same?

 

Eh, that was a question for another day.

 

The two heroes looked at each other, unsure of what to do now. Now that they had met, they should have started talking to one another, but that was impossible. Eala couldn’t talk, and Delphin didn’t want to make her type everything she wanted to say. It took a while, but they finally found a way to interact: they played a game.

 

Since the baskets of the Ferris wheel were littered with trash, they began tossing the pieces out of the basket, trying to make it into a very small trashcan very far away. It started out innocently enough, but by the time they ran out of trash to throw, they had already started tackling each other and waving when the other was throwing. Once Delphin threw the last piece of garbage – he missed, which sucked –the heroes began climbing down the ride. Eala didn’t want to try and fly him down and Delphin didn’t want to use her fan again.

 

There were a few close calls, but they made it down to the ground safely. After picking up the few scraps that didn’t make it into the trashcan, the heroes looked at one another.

 

“I-I have to go,” Delphin said regretfully. “My parents want me to get up early so we can go out to breakfast.”

 

Eala nodded. She had to wake up early too, to help her parents out in their antique shop. She waved at her partner –that was going to take some getting used to –before spreading her wings and taking to the skies. Delphin watched her go, some warm feeling blossoming in his chest. He didn’t know what to call the feeling, but he did know one thing.

 

He was going to find that girl again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I want to explain their weapons. Eala’s fan might have a wire like Ladybug’s yo-yo, but she can’t use it like one. Her weapon is more slashy than stringy, if that makes any sense. She will only use the string to help Delphin up –and this will probably be the last time she does that –or to tie it around her waist. Delphin’s arm fins are not like Chat’s staff, either. He can’t make them grow or anything. I’m not sure I did a great job with the description, either. Basically they’re made of two pieces of wood –or whatever their weapons are made of, I’m not sure –that form what sort of looks like a police baton. He holds the shorter piece like a handle while the other part –the one with the fin –rests against his outer arm. Does that make any sense? I know that this is an actual weapon, just minus the fin, but I can’t figure out what it’s called. If anyone knows the answer, could you please tell me? I’d be very grateful! Thanks for reading!
> 
> ~C


	3. We're All Mad Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Lizzy, she just wanted people to come to her party. Now she will make them come. Can our heroes defeat their first colubra?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is basically my way of explaining how the villains work. I’m really running with this whole snake thing. Just wait until you actually get to see Vipera. Look up dracaena (the monster, not the plant) and you’ll get an idea of what she looks like. Anyway, please enjoy We’re All Mad Here.

It was Lizzy Jordan’s fourteenth birthday. She had waited for so long for this day to arrive. She had invited everyone she knew, spent hours decorating, and had even gotten the biggest cake she could. But when the time came for everyone to start showing up, no one was there. Lizzy was confused at first; maybe she had put the wrong time on the invitations? No, she realized as she looked at the extra one she had. That’s when it hit her.

 

No one was coming.

 

Lizzy ran from her home, ignoring her parents’ pleas for her to calm down and tell them what was wrong. She couldn’t face them, not now. Everyone hated her! How could every single person at her school hate her so much? She ran and ran and ran, until she finally came to a stop by the sea. Her mind was spinning so much with her newfound knowledge that she didn’t notice a tiny golden-brown snake slithering toward her.

 

The snake slid up her body, winding and curving along her skin until it curled around her arm. Without warning, it sank its fangs into her wrist, sending a vile magic throughout her body. A voice, like the hissing of a thousand serpents, whispered into Lizzy’s mind.

 

_My name is Vipera. I can help you_ , the voice tempted. _I can make it so everyone will come to your party. But in return, you must help me. Get the Swan and Dolphin Miraculouses from those who will try to stop you. Can you do that for me?_

 

Lizzy smirked. “Of course. They’ll never want to leave _my_ party.”

 

The dark magic emanating from the curled snake’s fangs poisoned her veins, transforming her. It emerged from her body and engulfed her, obscuring the girl from view for only an instant. When the magic sank back below her skin, Lizzy was no more. In her place was a girl filled with malevolence.

 

Her full skirt was striped plum and lilac, frills barely peeking out from where it brushed her knees. Her olive-green jacket was left opened over a white blouse. Her stockings were striped green and black, matching the ribbons that trailed from her enormous brown hat. Two cards, an ace of spades and a queen of hearts, were nestled in between the ribbon and the hat. Around her wrist was the snake, curled so tight that it resembled a bracelet.

 

Hatter laughed maniacally at the power that she now possessed. Yes, they would come to her party. They would have no choice.

 

* * *

 

 

Helen was walking down the boardwalk with Will, just enjoying some ice cream with her best friend, when she heard the screaming. A tiny yet persistent nudge came from her pocket, where Ollor was tucked away. As Will rushed to where the screams were coming from, Helen ran in the opposite direction. She ducked into a secluded alley before letting Ollor escape her fabric chamber.

 

“Ready?” the kwami questioned.

 

“Do I have a choice?” Helen returned. “Ollor, wings unfurl!”

 

The tiny swan was sucked into Helen’s pendant, beginning the transformation. The light grey magic swept over her, turning her from an ordinary girl into the mysterious swan heroine. Once the light faded, Eala extended her wings and took off, soaring toward the sounds of the attack.

 

Now, she had expected many things from her first colubra attack. She had expected to see people crying, mass destruction, maybe even some injuries. What Eala hadn’t expected was a tea party.

 

Several people were sitting along the street, each with a little teacup clutched in their hands. They chatted excitedly with one another as they drank the dark liquid. But on each of their faces was an expression of pure insanity. What sort of villain could do this to people? That’s when Eala spotted the colubra. She looked like a female version of the Mad Hatter from _Alice in Wonderland_ , complete with two different shades of eye shadow. The crazy smile on her face honestly scared the swan heroine.

 

“Hi!” the girl greeted brightly. “You must be here for my party! Come and sit down! I’ll get you come tea and we can be best friends forever!”

 

“How about no,” a male voice commented from behind Eala. She didn’t have to look to know who it was. Delphin strode toward her, standing by her side. “Does this girl even own a mirror?” he asked.

 

In response, Eala shrugged. Just before she was about to come up with a plan to stop the possessed girl, Hatter decided it was time to invite them to her party. She lifted the hand with the snake and shot a blast of multi-colored light at the heroes. They dove away just in time, avoiding what would have been a catastrophic bending of wills. Hatter pouted dramatically when she realized she missed. Why weren’t they cooperating?

 

“Hold still!” she instructed in a high, lilting voice. “I just want to invite you to my party!”

 

Delphin laughed, though it sounded like the chittering of a dolphin. Yikes. “Sorry, but I don’t do tea parties. What about you, Birdie? Do you want tea?”

 

Eala shot him a glare over the nickname, but shook her head anyway. She really didn’t want to be turned into a mindless zombie with a tea obsession, thank you very much. She pulled her fan from her hip and unfolded it, waiting to see what Hatter would do. Delphin also withdrew his weapons, gripping the handles of his arm fins tightly.

 

Hatter didn’t waste any time attacking. Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one who attacked. As she cried out in exaggerated turmoil, her ‘guests’ got to their feet and began to attack the heroes, smacking them over the head with their tea cups. Who knew porcelain could hurt so much? Delphin began beating them back, though he was careful not to hurt anyone; after all, these were civilians, not monsters. Eala, seeing that Hatter had left herself wide open, spread her wings and took off, soaring toward the colubra.

 

The two heroes fought like wild animals, frantically trying to win the battle and save the poor girl trapped beneath Vipera’s dark magic. Hatter was cunning, though, so her army had soon overwhelmed Delphin and she had cornered Eala in between a building and an eighteen wheeler. The swan heroine looked around, violet eyes wide, as she realized they were going to lose. Delphin couldn’t fight all those people! She couldn’t spread her wings enough to fly out of there! What could she do?!

 

That’s when she felt it. The same feeling of knowledge that had told her how to untransform that first time was back, instructing her on how to save her partner and all of the innocent people. But how could it be right? She couldn’t speak; how was she supposed to say this incredible phrase that was supposed to save the day? But she opened her mouth and cried out anyway, amazed when her voice actually worked while in costume.

 

“Swan Song!” she shouted, the words sending a wave of energy from her body.

 

The energy swept through the crowd, hitting each of the crazed attackers and sending them tumbling to the ground. Within seconds, Delphin was the only one on the ground who was still standing. How had she done that? But Eala didn’t have time to think about it; Hatter had seen what she had done, and the colubratized girl was furious.

 

“YOU TOOK THEM FROM ME!” she shouted. “THEY WANTED TO BE HERE AND YOU _STOLE_ THEM!”

 

“I didn’t steal anyone,” Eala responded strongly, amazed that her voice still worked. Maybe her power –she had a _power_ –had returned her voice prematurely. “ _You_ controlled them. They were defenseless! Delphin! Now!”

 

The dolphin hero had been sneaking closer to the colubra since the army had gone down. Now, only a step behind, his arm shot out and he grabbed Hatter’s wrist, forcibly yanking the golden-brown snake off of her. Hatter cried out in anger and pain, but it didn’t register with Delphin. He released the snake, watching it slither away for a few moments before tossing one of his arm fins at it.

 

The aqua fin sliced through the magic reptile, turning it instantly into a glittery golden smoke. The smoke spread over all of the destruction Hatter’s army had caused, over the actual army, and even Hatter herself. When it died down only seconds later, everything was as it had been before. Hatter was no longer Hatter, either. She was just a girl, kneeling on the ground with confusion in her eyes.

 

Delphin and Eala helped some of the people to their feet, but they stopped when a strange beeping sound was heard. What was it? Eala glanced down at her Miraculous and gasped. One of the white feathers had turned black! What did that mean? The knowledgeable feeling came back, whispering what was going on. She was about to untransform.

 

“I have to go,” she told Delphin. “I’ll see you tomorrow night?”

 

“Y-yeah,” he stuttered, unused to hearing her voice. How could she suddenly speak? “See you, Birdie.”

 

“Don’t call me Birdie!” Eala called as she spread her wings and soared away, searching for a place to safely resume her civilian life.

 

Once the swan was out of sight, Delphin returned to helping the people who had been controlled by Hatter. Was that Wisty? It was, he realized as he approached. She was standing next to a boy he could only assume was that elusive twin of hers. It also appeared that they were both arguing.

 

“I _told_ you we should’ve gone to Lizzy’s birthday party!” the boy snapped. “This all could have been avoided!”

 

“Well _excuse me_ if I had already made plans with Arion!” Wisty returned with venom. “I wasn’t about to ditch my friend for someone I don’t talk to! Besides, why didn’t _you_ go, if you wanted to so much?!”

 

“Because Watson promised to help me investigate the origination of the milk the ice cream places uses!”

 

Delphin could tell Wisty was about to go for blood, so he decided it would be a good time to step in. He stood in between the two of them, holding his arms out to separate them.

 

“Whoa, calm down you two,” he instructed. “Now, how about you _both_ figure out how to make this up to –Lizzy, was it?”

 

“Yeah,” the twins said in unison.

 

“But how?”  Wisty questioned, twirling a piece of blonde hair around her finger.

 

“Maybe you can go to her party? Get some of your friends together, ask Lizzy if you can come over, and apologize for not being there in the first place,” the dolphin hero suggested. “Now, I’ve gotta go. See you around.”

 

He had just started to run off when the boy yelled “WAIT! What’s your name? What are you? Who was that girl with the wings?”

 

Delphin turned back and smiled. “I’m Delphin. Just think of Eala and I like your friendly neighborhood superheroes.”

 

With that, he ran off, leaving the twins to wonder just when their town had gotten so strange.

 

Also, now they had a birthday party to attend. Hopefully Helen and Arion would be around so they could drag them along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me explain Swan Song real quick: basically Eala has the power to calm down a colubra’s army for five minutes. After she uses Swan Song, she will have her voice back until she untransforms. There is a catch, but I’ve got a whole chapter to explain it later on, so you’ll just have to wait and see what it is. And I just now realized that the colubra’s real name is Lizzy Jordan, which sounds almost exactly like Lizzy Borden. Why, stupid brain, why? Thanks for reading!
> 
> ~C


	4. School Daze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first day of tenth grade! Will Helen and Arion meet up? And will Will ever stop with the Sherlock-inspired nicknames?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, guys, I am so sorry about the unexpected hiatus! High school recently ended for me, so summer break is kind of my ‘hiatus season.’ Trust me, I don’t want it to be, but the school had internet and I sadly do not. Not to fear, because now I have a laptop again so I can prewrite chapters! And since the local library is open very often, I’ll probably be able to update at least once every two weeks. (I live about twenty minutes from the library and cannot drive myself; otherwise I’d be over there every single day.) Anyway, my apologies, fellow Miraculous lovers, but I’m back now, so please accept School Daze as your restitution.

The first day of her tenth grade year, Helen woke up with a smile on her face. This was it! This was going to be her first day in a real special effects makeup class, her first chance to see what she needed to improve upon and learn trade secrets she hadn’t been able to figure out on her own. Not to mention, Helen already had plans for switching out one of her classes to make her other life a lot easier.

 

She threw on her favorite outfit –a light pink t shirt and jeans –before turning to Ollor. The swan kwami had a light in her plum eyes, as well as a question.

 

“Why are you so excited?” she asked, hovering above her chosen’s shoulder as the girl brushed out her short pale brown hair. “I thought children hated school.”

 

“Not me!” Helen grinned, meeting Ollor’s eyes in the mirror. “I can’t wait to get to class! One of my teachers was a professional makeup artist for fifteen years before becoming a high school teacher. He worked on all of the best movies made during his career, so he knows what he’s talking about. And I’ve got a plan for one class that should help me out on patrol with Delphin.”

 

“Oh?”

 

Helen just smiled at her kwami’s confused expression. “You’ll just have to wait and see what I’ve got in store. Now come on! Will is probably waiting on me right this minute; we always walk to school together on the first day. We walk together most other days too, but the first day is super important. Get in your pocket and let’s go!”

 

Without further probing, Ollor swooped down into the side pocket on Helen’s backpack and zipped it behind herself. The girl grabbed the bag and slung it over her shoulder before dashing out the door, grinning giddily to herself.

 

This was going to be great!

 

* * *

 

 

“ _Arion!_ Wake up! That alarm clock is driving me _crazy!_ ” a whiny, chittering voice cried, breaking through the veil of sleep that encased the boy’s mind. He groaned, rolling over and slamming his hand down on the snooze button.

 

It was too early to deal with this crap, Arion decided. He’d go to school next week. At least, that’s what he thought until something small and wet smacked him in the face with surprising force. The teen’s sea green eyes snapped open as he glared at his kwami.

 

“What’s the big idea?” he demanded. “I hit the off button!”

 

“You have to go to school today! Come on, I thought you wanted to impress Eala with your new class,” Iniidae tempted.

 

Arion grumbled, knowing the tiny flying dolphin was right. He forced himself out of bed, grabbed a forest green shirt, black jean jacket, and pants before ducking into his bathroom to get ready for his first day of tenth grade.

 

Ugh.

 

* * *

 

 

“Watson!” a friendly voice called as Helen walked out the front door of her parents’ antique shop. She smiled warmly at her best friend, Will Holmes, as he dashed across the street and bounced up and down beside her. “Are you ready for school? I can’t wait for my true-crime class! This is going to be great!”

 

“I know!” Helen agreed. “Just think; you’ll be solving crimes and I’ll be recreating them for movies and TV!”

 

Will laughed. “That will be awesome. Come on, let’s get going.”

 

Helen threaded an arm through his and proceeded to pull him down the street, laughing all the way.

 

* * *

 

 

Will didn’t even blink as a blonde blur darted in front of him and grabbed his arm. This was the same thing that happened just about every school day for the last three years -ever since he moved to Crimson Bay. Wisty was a morning person through and through, a complete contrast to Arion. He hated waking up, and as a result was normally half asleep when he got to school. Wisty decided that it was her job to get him awake in time to learn, and so she waited outside his house every morning and pulled him along for a morning jog.

 

“Was this completely necessary?” Arion complained as he blinked the sleep from his eyes as they jogged beside the canal. “It’s the first day of school.”

 

“All the more reason for you to be awake and ready for the day,” Wisty called over her shoulder before snapping her blonde ponytail around, smacking him in the face.

 

Twice! He’d been hit in the face _twice_ this morning! Was the universe conspiring against him or something? All he wanted to do was go to sleep, but _no_. Of course not. He had to go to school. This sucked.

 

* * *

 

 

Helen ditched Will as soon as they got into the building. She wasn’t being mean or anything; she just had to go and change her language class. At the end of her ninth grade year, she’s signed up for German. Now, though, she figured that sign language would be more helpful. After all, when she was Eala, she couldn’t say anything, so signing should help her out. The teacher would teach her and she’d teach Delphin. At least, in theory.

 

A few minutes later, Helen finally got to the front of the line that had formed in the main office. She greeted the secretary with a smile and requested kindly for her schedule to be changed. She was rewarded with a tired sigh and a sheet of paper thrust in front of her face moments later. Helen grinned as she clutched her new schedule in her hand and began her trek to her first class. This was going to be so great! She couldn’t wait to start her new classes and see the look on Delphin’s face when he learned about her plan.

 

On her way out, however, a boy she’d never seen before opened the door to the, hitting Helen right in the face. She recoiled in horror, holding the injured appendage between her fingers. The boy looked at her with bright sea green eyes and paled at the sight of what Helen was certain was blood dripping from her nose. It was just a small bit, and she’d had worse that one time her mannequin had fallen onto her head and broke her nose. This was nowhere close to that awfulness.

 

“I’m so sorry!” he apologized. “I didn’t see you.”

 

“Clearly,” Helen returned, wiping the red specks from her face. “But that’s okay. It’s not the first time.”

 

“Someone else has hit you with a door?” the guy questioned, eyes wide.

 

Helen nodded, thinking back to her last colubra fight; a doorman to a high-end hotel had turned into the Gatekeeper and had created iron gates and doors to slam in people’s faces or throw them at particularly annoying people. Unfortunately, superheroes seemed to fall into the latter category. She’d gotten off easy though. A door only hit _her_ in the face; one had pinned Delphin to the ground.

 

“You could say that,” she mused. “I’m Helen. What’s your name?”

 

“Arion,” he responded, holding a hand out to her. Helen took the hand in her own and shook firmly. “Nice to meet you, Helen.”

 

“You too, Arion. So, why the rush? It’s not like the secretary is going anywhere,” she teased.

 

“I just want to get a class changed,” Arion revealed. “I . . . made a new friend recently, but she can’t speak. I want to surprise her with some sign language we can both use to talk so she doesn’t have to write everything down.”

 

Helen’s heart warmed at his words. “That’s so sweet! I’m taking the same class, fifth period. You should switch that one out too so we can have at least one class together. It’d be nice to see a familiar face.”

 

Arion smiled down at her. “Sure. I’ll see what I can do.”

 

“Great. See you in fifth!”

 

* * *

  
 

Helen made her way into the special effects makeup classroom and lit up with excitement. It was everything she could have ever hoped for and more! Each of the ten students –her included –had their own huge desk, bigger than the ones in the science labs. There were dozens of pounds of modeling clay, life-size mannequins and simple head molds at each desk. In the back was everything that was needed to finish the fabrication, including airbrush paints, reams of fabric, all sorts of plastic pieces, and even a handful of wigs. Helen zeroed in on the table right in front of the teacher’s desk and nearly sprinted for it.

 

This was it! This was the first day of the rest of her life! She was going to be the best special effects makeup artist of all time! Her work would be the envy of the world, given enough time and dedication. And if Helen knew anything, she knew that she had both in spades.

 

She sat down in the plush adjustable seat –seriously awesome, considering she was in a public school –and dropped her bag onto the ground beside her. A pained _oomph_ came from her bag, making the violet-eyed girl wince.

 

“Sorry Ollor,” Helen whispered.

 

“Don’t forget me next time,” her kwami hissed back.

 

Helen couldn’t say anything back, since her teacher arrived and brought with him a quiet reverence from his students. She was so excited!

 

* * *

 

 

While Helen was fangirling over her new class, Arion currently had study hall. For him, that meant taking the time to head to the natatorium so he could swim around. The swim team only met after school, and the swim class offered by the school didn’t meet until sixth period. That meant that the pool was open to any student who didn’t have a ‘real’ class to attend, or who wanted to swim instead of going to PE, an option that was only offered to those who were on the swim team already. It was an unusual system, but it worked out for the serious swimmers. Anyone who wasn’t serious normally just jumped into one of the canals, anyway.

 

Since it was first period, Arion had the pool all to himself. Who else besides him would be crazy enough to go swimming first thing in the morning? After taking a quick detour to the changing room, Arion was soon by the edge of the pool, admiring the still surface of the water. There was no better sight to his eyes than that of perfect, untouched water.

 

Unfortunately, Iniidae chose that moment to pop out of his hiding spot in Arion’s wadded up towel and dive into the water, sending tiny ripples across the ruined surface. Arion rolled his eyes at his kwami’s antics and followed the dolphin’s lead, creating an enormous splash with his messy cannonball. Iniidae came up for air and giggled in his chittering way at his human’s antics.

 

“Can’t you dive better than that?” he questioned, slicing through the water like an arrow through the air.

 

Arion rolled his eyes before ducking beneath the water and executing a perfect dolphin kick, sending him halfway across the pool before coming up for air. “How’s that for better?” he taunted.

 

Iniidae’s only response was to laugh and join his chosen in various swimming techniques until the warning bell rang.

 

* * *

 

 

Helen slid her tray onto the lunch table with little ceremony before taking her seat. Her first class had been so amazing! Math next, then Computer 101? Not so much. But at least it was now lunchtime, the one time she was guaranteed to have with Will. The one time they’d had separate lunches, it had only taken a week to have her schedule changed in order to ‘corral the excitable young man’ and to ‘prohibit him from harassing the lunch ladies about the conditions of the meals they prepare.’ Ah, poor Ms. Hyss. The principal had to deal with a lot of Will’s shenanigans, but Helen could normally talk him out of the worst ones.

 

“Watson!” Will beamed. “I was wondering when you’d show up. My true crime class is amazing! We’re going to start looking at real crimes that have happened in Crimson Bay, mostly theft, but next grading period we’re going to look at some really big crimes! The teacher even mentioned a field trip to go see a real court case when a good one comes up. I’m just hoping we don’t have to sit in traffic court.”

 

The stupid joke at the end of Will’s rambling tirade made Helen laugh. She really did love Will’s lame jokes, and she’d missed them since so much of her time had recently gone to fighting evil. In just the last two weeks, there had been five colubras! She didn’t want to know how hard it would be to juggle school, helping her parents, and saving the city, but something told her she was going to find out soon.

 

Before Helen could say anything in response, a blonde girl who eerily resembled Will plopped down in from of the young detective and shot the two of them a winning smile.

 

“Surprise, Willy,” she teased, meeting Will’s sky blue gaze with her own. “Look who has your lunch period too.”

 

“Mycroft!” Will groaned. Helen felt a smile tug at her lips. This, then, must have been Will’s reclusive twin sister, Wisty. She’d heard a lot about Will’s sister, but had never actually met her in person, despite having Will’s best friend for nearly six years. It just never came up.

 

Only seconds after sitting down at Helen and Will’s table did Wisty’s eye catch someone in the crowd and wave them over. Who did she think she was? She hadn’t even asked to sit with them; now she was inviting others over?! Helen was just about to give the newcomer a piece of her mind when the invitee took the last available seat at the table. The moment she saw the sea green eyes and slightly messy black hair sitting across the table from her, her words died in her throat. Arion?

 

“Helen! Wow, I didn’t know you were friends with Wisty!” Arion beamed, taking a huge bite out of his sandwich.

 

“I’m not,” she corrected. “I’m Will’s best friend.”

 

“So true, my dear Watson,” Will chimed in, a smarmy grin on his face. Helen rolled her amethyst eyes; she knew as well as anyone that he loved seeing people’s reactions to his nicknames. However, it seemed Arion didn’t quite get the joke. Or rather, he got the wrong one.

 

“So you two are best friends, and your last names are Holmes and Watson?” Arion chuckled. “You do realize how perfect that is, right?”

 

“It would be if my last name was Watson,” Helen smirked. “But it’s Burns. Will is just really fond of Doyle-inspired nicknames.”

 

“Yep,” Will agreed. “I’m Holmes, Helen’s Watson, Wisty’s Mycroft, and you’re going to be . . . Mary.”

 

Dead silence. Then –

 

“WHAT?!”

 

Helen snickered behind her hand. Arion looked like he was torn between hiding under the table and punching Will in the face. Thankfully, he chose neither option and settled instead for hearing the geeky boy out.

 

“You’re the charming love interest that secretly turns out to be connected to the whole mastermind plot later on,” Will explained. “Also, you’d make a terrible Moriarty.”

 

“Whose love interest? I’m not really interested in Wisty romantically.”

 

“Good, or I’d have to kill you.”

 

It was a testimony to how many times Will had bluffed his way into finding the truth that he didn’t even crack a smile as he delivered the line. Helen had to admit that she was seriously impressed with her partner in crime. However, she did feel a twang of pity when she saw the terrified look on Arion’s rapidly paling face.

 

“He doesn’t really mean that,” she assured him. “He knows that I’d catch him, and since I’m an honorary PI, just like he is, I’m honor-bound to turn him in.”

 

“Honorary PI?” the new boy parroted. Of course that would be the one thing he’d focus on.

 

Helen sighed. “Yeah, Sherlock here dragged me to the police station one too many times, so they decided to set us up with a small case. Tell him, Holmes.”

 

Will’s blue eyes lit up as he straightened his detective hat, like the one the original Sherlock Holmes wore. “Okay, so we were told that we had to figure out who was stealing patio furniture from houses near the pier, right? We only had a small case file and a handful of witnesses and suspects, but we dove right in and started digging for clues to catch the perp . . .” And as Will wove a daring tale of danger and excitement on the road to catch a vicious thief, Helen thought that maybe extending her circle of friends wouldn’t be that bad after all.

 

* * *

 

 

About an hour later, Arion sauntered into his fifth period class, Sign Language 1, or sign class for short. He was excited to see Helen sitting near the dead middle of the classroom, only one row closer to the front than center. He swiftly took the seat beside her, so they could talk and get to know each other better in the few minutes they had to chat.

 

“Hey,” he greeted.

 

Helen cast her unusual purple gaze on him and grinned. “Hey. Sorry about Will earlier. I’ll tell him to stop with your nickname if you want me to. It’s only a fifty-fifty shot he’ll listen, but it’s better than nothing, right?”

 

“Nah, it’s cool. I don’t really care what he calls me. Who am I to judge other people’s weirdness?”

 

Helen seemed taken aback. “Color me impressed. I thought for sure that any normal teenage boy would resent being called ‘Mary’ by someone they’d only just met.”

 

Arion shrugged, twisting the leather bracelet on his wrist that held unspeakable power. “You’d be surprised how far from normal I am.”

 

He nearly missed how Helen fingered her pendant necklace and replied “Yeah, me too” as quiet as a mouse.

 

He wanted to say something, but around that time, the teacher walked in, so any form of communication was out. By the end of class, Helen’s odd response was forgotten, and Arion moved on with the rest of his first day of tenth grade.

 

* * *

 

 

The moment Helen got home that afternoon, she fed Ollor a slice of rosemary bread –having just learned the recipe days before –and fell face first onto her bed. Her day had been so eventful! How was she ever going to get to sleep tonight with all of these wonderful memories flooding her head?

 

A ping on her phone alerted her that her day wasn’t over yet. With a sigh and a smile, Helen called for Ollor to transform her just as she stepped out of the window. Obsessing over her new classes and her new friends could wait. She had a city to save and a snake to defeat.

 

After all, what was high school without a little drama?v

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I’m not honestly sure if a public school would be able to afford any of the awesome things I listed for their classes (the indoor pool, the spectacular special effects makeup lab) but since this is my story, we’re going to pretend that this one can! Also, most –if not all –of my knowledge of special effects makeup comes from Face Off, so bear with me at any mention of it ever. Thanks for reading!
> 
> ~C


	5. Ditching You for You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arion has a problem: he likes hanging out with Helen, but he's late for patrol with Eala! Hopefully Helen will understand . . . right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told you I’d be back! So this chapter is basically just stating something that I find kind of wrong/hilarious with two people having two secret identities while also knowing said identities but not knowing who’s behind them (gee, that sounded better in my head). Basically, what would happen if Arion had to ditch Helen to go patrolling with Eala? Well, this of course! Thanks for putting up with my rambling and please enjoy Ditching You for You.

Helen bounced into the lunchroom, scanning the crowd for her favorite group of people, a certain dolphin excluded of course. When she spotted them, her violet eyes lit up and she made her way over to their table. Will was bent over a notebook, probably working on something for his true-crime class, while Wisty and Arion were deep in a conversation about the girl’s upcoming swim meet. Helen swiftly took her seat across the table from Arion and playfully tossed a grape in his direction.

 

“Hey!” he yelped, turning a lighthearted gaze on her. “What’s the big idea?”

 

“I just wanted to know if we were still on for coffee this evening,” she explained with false innocence in her voice.

 

Arion rolled his eyes. “Of course we are. We have to find birthday gifts for Thing One and Thing Two.”

 

“I heard that,” both twins said in unison, Wisty glaring at them and Will not even bothering to look up from his book.

 

Helen and Arion locked gazes for a brief instant before they burst out in warm laughter, enticing the others to join in, until all four of them were belting out deep belly laughs over the simplest little thing. They even managed to get people sitting at other tables laughing along, despite the fact that they were oblivious to the four friends’ reason for laughing.

 

When their joviality faded to a normal level, Wisty began pestering Will about what sort of mystery case he had planned for their birthday, as was tradition. This gave Arion and Helen ample time to plan out where they could shop for gifts. It was their first year buying things for both twins instead of just the one.

 

“I think we should stop by that little antique shop by the ocean,” Arion supplied after Gap had been thrown out and the bookstore was deemed acceptable. “They usually have a lot of nice things, for decent prices too.”

 

A snort escaped Will before anyone else had a chance to react. He lifted his blue eyes from his notebook to give Arion an incredulous look, which was met only with confusion. “You seriously don’t know?” he chuckled, shaking his head. “That’s Helen’s parents’ shop. She lives above it.”

 

Arion turned to look at her. “Really?”

 

Smiling, she nodded. “I was going to say something, but Sher here had me beat.”

 

“It’s Holmes,” Will corrected, eyes now glued back on his notebook.

 

“Yeah,” Arion smirked. “Get your facts straight, Watson.”

 

“See, Mary gets it.”

 

That started off a whole new bout of laughter that no one was able to stop completely until lunch was nearly over.

 

* * *

 

 

After school let out, Helen and Arion walked together to the nearest coffee shop, chatting and smiling the whole way. They had only known one another a week, but they felt like they had known each other for much longer. After they ordered their drinks –an iced mocha for Helen and a caramel latte for Arion –they staked out a table and continued their conversation.

 

“No, you’re wrong,” Helen laughed.

 

“I’m pretty sure I’m right.”

 

“Then what, Ms. Jenkins flipped us all off in class today? I highly doubt that. You’ll just have to accept that different cultures have different signs, and in that one, raising your middle finger means brother,” Helen protested.

 

“It still doesn’t change the fact that we’re American, and in America, that means ‘F you,’” he pointed out.

 

She slightly conceded to his point –after all, had any school administrator walked into the classroom at that moment, Ms. Jenkins probably would have had a lot of explaining to do –but she refused to completely forfeit her claim. After all, she knew she was right; why shouldn’t she share her wisdom with others?

 

Their drinks came and were soon drained, the empty cups lay forgotten on the table while the two friends talked. But they eventually realized the time and knew that if they didn’t begin searching for presents soon, they would never find them. They got up from their admittedly comfortable seats and headed out the door to the unknown wilds of the retail industry.

 

* * *

 

 

Arion browsed the display at the Lost and Found Antique Shop run by Mr. and Mrs. Burns. Helen lounged half on, half against the front counter, spinning an old mobile from the seventies above her head. It was one of those things that no one ever really bought because it was too difficult to move, but that her parents bought with the store’s look in mind. There wasn’t much they had like that, but the few things they did have provided Helen with endless entertainment.

 

Arion found a few things Wisty might like, but nothing that really leapt out at him. Of course, Helen had already gotten Will something from the store: a brass magnifying glass from the late eighteen-hundreds. It was just the sort of thing the guy would love. And, since her parents owned the shop, she basically got it for free. How, exactly, was that fair?

 

“Oh hush up,” Helen teased. Arion winced. He must’ve been thinking out loud again. “You’ll get the same deal on whatever you buy from this store. Family and friends’ discount is sixty percent off, unless it’s for another friend or family member; then it’s pretty much free. Just don’t take advantage of it, or I will personally revoke your discount.”

 

He rolled his eyes playfully at her. “Now why would I do that? You’ve been so nice to me; it would be against my code of honor to take advantage of a young lady or the sales offered to me by her parents’ store.”

 

Helen snorted, pushing herself up off the counter and heading over to where Arion was standing. “Here, Wisty is a swimmer right? I think we have a bracelet around here somewhere with a silver-plated anchor. Mom said it wasn’t all that old, but it’s still nice.”

 

Arion smiled. “Thanks Helen.”

 

“Hey, you helped me find that book about Olympic swimmers for Wisty. It’s the least I can do.”

 

Together, the two of the scoured the store, trying to locate the elusive bracelet. Finally, they found it, tucked away in a small jewelry box for display. Helen rang it up at the register, getting the five dollars from her raven-haired friend, and handed him both the bracelet and the box.

 

“You probably can’t wrap gifts,” she said by way of explanation. “I’m guessing . . . three tries each before you finally give up and hand over the gift to someone else?”

 

“That’s scary. How do you know that?”

 

Helen smiled. “I have my ways.” When Arion gave her a disbelieving look, she finally relented. “Fine. Wisty told me not to let you wrap anything, or it would take ten minutes and thirty pounds of tape before they got to their presents.”

 

Arion laughed, slipping the box into his pocket. As he did, he happened to glance at the grandfather clock for sale. Oh _no!_ If that was right, then he was so, so late for patrol with Eala. She was never going to forgive him!

 

“I’ve gotta go!” he yelped. “I just remembered, my . . . parents! They want me to be home for dinner, and I’m late!”

 

Helen waved him out the door. “Go on! I don’t want to get chewed out for your time mismanagement.”

 

Arion shot her a thankful smile and dashed out the door, the bell jingling even after he was out of sight. Wow, he could really move, couldn’t he? Helen laughed softly to herself before glancing curiously over at that same clock. Ah crap! She was late for patrol with Delphin!

 

“Ollor! We’ve got to go!” she called, enticing the kwami out of her school bag. “Come on, I’ll transform upstairs.”

 

“Not inside!” the tiny swan reminded her. “My wings still hurt from the last time you tried to fit yours through that window.”

 

“Sorry. Now let’s hurry! Delphin has probably been waiting for an hour!”

 

* * *

 

 

Eala landed in the top basket of the Ferris wheel and sighed. Delphin wasn’t here. Maybe he had gone ahead with patrol on his own; he seemed to like swimming through the canal, and used any excuse to dive into the water. Not that patrol from the water led to much, but it made him happy. She was just about to leap off of the Ferris wheel and being searching for her partner when she noticed a light blue figure running toward the pier.

 

Delphin!

 

With the enhanced physical abilities granted to them by the suits, Delphin leapt up through the metal rungs of the giant wheel, landing beside Eala only moments later. He shot her an apologetic smile as he sat down next to her.

 

“Sorry I’m late. I lost track of time. You haven’t been waiting that long, have you?”

 

Eala shook her head before tapping out a message on her fan’s screen. _No. I actually just got here. I was running late too._

 

Delphin read the message and laughed. “Well, you can’t say we’re not synchronized. It’s actually kind of scary.”

 

Eala gave a silent laugh of her own. _You idiot_.

 

“But I’m your idiot, Birdie,” he teased. “Now come on, I think I saw someone walking on the boardwalk who looked kind of shady. Maybe if we remind him that there are superheroes in Crimson Bay, he’ll think twice about doing anything.”

 

Eala shrugged. Why not? It was kind of fun scaring the living daylights out of would-be criminals. They’d stopped two robberies and one mugging since becoming heroes. People seemed to respect their power and fear their wrath, for the most part.

 

Spreading her wings, Eala grabbed hold of Delphin and took to the air, off to protect their city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada! I’m not really sure when I decided that Wisty and Will’s birthday was going to be kind of central to this chapter. It kind of just happened. Anyway, thanks for reading!
> 
> ~C


	6. Fiery Passion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Delphin finally discovers his power!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada! Now you get to see what Delphin’s power is! I know I waited an epically long time to reveal this, but to be honest, I wasn’t sure how to. See, dolphins are connected with clairvoyancy – and if anyone can tell me why, they’ll get a grateful cyber-hug because I have no idea – so I figured that could be Delphin’s power. Please let me know if you know, and please enjoy Fiery Passion.

“BIRDIE! GET DOWN!”

 

Eala didn’t hesitate to duck as Delphin threw his arm fins at their latest adversary, hitting her right in the face. _Ha_ , the swan heroine thought when she saw the utterly stunned look on the colubra’s face. _That’ll teach you to set fires to other people’s property._

 

Ember, as she was known, was using her ‘gift’ to burn places and things by shooting fire from her hands. That made it difficult to fight her, but not impossible. Or so Eala kept telling herself. Already, one of her wings had been singed so badly, she couldn’t fly. Ollor was going to bite her after she untransformed, she just knew it. Delphin was having greater luck than she was, due to his awesome swimming power and the amount of canals running beside the streets of Crimson Bay. But not even his fancy swimming moves could help them defeat Ember. They needed a strategy, but first they had to regroup. And in order to do that, they needed to retreat.

 

It was a painful decision, but Eala cast a look over at Delphin, then far away behind them, and back again. By the shock and disbelief in his eyes, he got the message.

 

“Are you sure?” he asked, just barely dodging the latest fire blast Ember sent his way.

 

Eala nodded. They had no choice. With a silent sigh, she leapt down from her perch, grateful that her transformation granted her the reflexes necessary to perform such a feat, and sliced Ember with her fan. The attack distracted the fiery colubra, giving the duo just enough time to take to the water and make their escape.

 

* * *

 

 

Back underneath the Ferris wheel – there wasn’t enough time to climb it, and Eala couldn’t fly them up – Delphin closed his eyes and sighed. He’d had to help his partner swim through the canals, being that she wasn’t as graceful a swimmer as he was. One might think that a _swan_ would be a better swimmer, but apparently her only extra talent was the flying. It didn’t help that one wing lay limp at her side the entire time, dragging her down.

 

What fun. _Not_.

 

Delphin sighed again, opening his sea green eyes to stare into his partner’s violet ones. Hers contained worry and a bit of pain, though he wasn’t sure if the pain was from the difficult swim or the fact that her wing was burnt. Huh. If a movable part of their suits were damaged, could they feel the pain? Eh, that was a question for later. Right now they had to think up a game plan.

 

“So, any thoughts?” he asked.

 

Eala tilted her head, a signal that she was in fact thinking. The small action made Delphin smiled despite their current circumstances. At least he could count on Eala being cute without meaning to. Okay, so he may have been harboring a not-so-small crush on his partner. Who could blame him? She was so awesome and full of life and had so much to say, despite being mute. In fact, that kind of made her even more awesome. Not that she couldn’t talk – he didn’t think women should be seen and not heard, what a stupid idea – but that they communicated so well despite her muteness. Maybe it was even because of it.

 

Eventually, Eala shook her head. Great, the resident planner couldn’t think of a plan to take down their fiery foe. It looked like it was up to Delphin. What a scary concept. After assuming what he hoped looked like a meditative pose, though he probably just looked like a child settling down for story time, the dolphin hero began mentally reviewing what he knew about Ember.

 

Okay, so she could shoot fire from her hands. And she seemed to be attacking places that held some sort of personal yet negative connection; well, either that or she was just really mad all the time and attacked places at random. That was also plausible, however unlikely. She was also kind of pretty, from a purely objective view of course. Ember was way too old for Delphin, somewhere in her late thirties. It would be like dating his mother.

 

The hero shook _that_ unpleasant thought from his mind before focusing once more on the problem. A strange thought drifted into his mind, like smoke on the wind. The voice wasn’t his own, though he knew he had heard it somewhere before . . . Before he could try to place it, the thought came again, clearer and more forceful than before.

 

_Use Clairvoyant Sight_.

 

Delphin mentally weighted his options: he could ignore this strange voice telling him to use this thing he’d never heard of, he could use it somehow and nothing would happen, or he could use it and it would somehow help them figure out what to do about Ember. A smile crept unbidden onto his lips. The last time he had been faced with a choice like this, he had become a superhero. There was really only one thing to do.

 

“Clairvoyant Sight!” he called, pulling Eala’s attention away from her damaged wing. She looked like she wanted to say something – except, of course, she couldn’t – but Delphin only caught a glance of her face before everything around him suddenly changed.

 

The world took on a hyper-real quality as he suddenly found himself watching another fight between the heroes and Ember. To Delphin’s utter bewilderment, someone who looked and sounded just like he did was fighting beside Eala, helping her dodge the wicked fire blasts. Whoa . . . what was going on?

 

Delphin watched the fight, confused, before understanding finally dawned on him. Clairvoyant Sight was the ability to see the future! With that in mind, he paid careful attention to the scene before him. Okay, so Ember was going to encircle them in a ring of fire before trying to burn Eala’s other wing for a distraction so she could steal their Miraculouses. If there was a way to avoid that, it would be awesome. Delphin winced as the colubra landed a particularly hard hit to his future self’s chest. Ouch. That was going to hurt.

 

Wait . . . he could use that! Yeah, just distract the colubra with the tempting offer of hurting him and possibly being able to take his bracelet, and Eala could swoop in – despite the lack of actual _swooping_ , since her wing was hurt and all – and nix the snake curled tight around Ember’s wrist. It was a little risky, but he was certain that it would work.

 

The instant that thought ran through his mind, Delphin was forcibly ejected from his vision and thrust back into the present. As he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to recover from the time-whiplash, he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. A small smile tugged on his lips. Eala was such a great friend.

 

When he finally recovered – though _finally_ may have been an overstatement, since it only took about fifteen seconds – the dolphin hero opened his eyes and beamed up at his partner.

 

“I know how we can beat Ember,” he declared.

 

* * *

 

 

Delphin’s plan was going perfectly: there was no ring of fire, no extra crispy wings, and one distraction in aqua wrapping paper. The only downside? His plan was going perfectly, which meant that the ‘distraction in aqua wrapping paper’ was him. He had been right; that hit _was_ painful. And hot. He couldn’t forget how hot it was. Delphin honestly really hoped they would never go up against a fire colubra ever again as he lay on the ground in anguish.

 

“Birdie!” he wheezed, trying to get air back into his lungs. “Any . . . time now would be . . . awesome!”

 

Eala did not disappoint. While Ember was preoccupied with trying to untie the bracelet from Delphin’s wrist, making him glad he had double-knotted it, the swan heroine snuck around behind her and knocked her over with her closed fan. The hit utterly destroyed Ember’s balance, nearly sending her into the canal, but not before Eala could rip the golden-brown snake from around the colubratized woman’s wrist.

 

The snake tried to escape, but Eala was too fast for it. She opened her fan and threw it at the magic reptile – and how weird was it that he could think that phrase and have it make sense? –striking it dead center. The spikes on the top of the fan sliced through the colubra like butter, disintegrating it into a fine gold powder. The powder was quickly dispersed by a sudden breeze, sweeping over the whole city to reverse the damage caused by Ember’s attack.

 

Ember herself was reverted from a fiery beauty to a rather uptight business woman crouched on the ground. Huh. If Delphin’s chest didn’t hurt so much, he probably would’ve wondered what had caused that woman to become a fire-flinging maniac. As it was, his chest still hurt because the magic clean up thing didn’t cure them of injuries that weren’t life threatening. At least, that’s how Iniidae explained it after Delphin complained about his ankle after landing on it wrong when he had been thrown about ten yards during a fight.

 

With the colubra destroyed and the city righted once more, Eala helped Delphin to his feet and gestured at his chest. He smiled in return.

 

“Eh, I’ll live,” he shrugged, kind of proud of himself for not gasping his answer. “How about you? Is your wing okay?”

 

Eala turned to the side to reveal a still-damaged wing. Upon seeing the panic on Delphin’s face – oh god, his plan didn’t work right and she was never going to fly again and it was all his fault because this whole thing was his stupid idea – she gave him a comforting smile and shook her head. One quick message typed on her fan later, she had him breathing easier. Figuratively, though, since his chest still really hurt and he couldn’t breathe right just yet.

 

_Ollor will fix it once I feed her and pamper her a little bit. I’ll meet you for patrol tonight, same as usual_.

 

Delphin nodded. “Alright then. See you tonight, my graceful swan.”

 

She shot him a look that wasn’t exactly a glare, but wasn’t exactly fond either. He countered her look with a super bright smile that had her laughing silently into her hand. They bide each other goodbye, Delphin giving a mock salute as he always did, before going their separate ways to recover before patrol that evening.

 

A beeping sound from his wrist reminded Delphin that he also had a time limit today. Well, wasn’t that wonderful?

 

* * *

 

 

That night, after Delphin had slept for about two hours with an icepack on his chest, he arrived at the Ferris wheel right on time. Eala, fashionably late as always, dove right for the top basket two minutes after Delphin. She didn’t take a seat, choosing instead to show off her newly healed wings.

 

“Your wings got better!” Delphin grinned. “Good for you.”

 

_Thank Ollor_ , she mouthed, finally sitting down beside him. Her unusual eyes stared into his before glancing down to his chest and back up, a question swirling in the purple depths.

 

“Yeah, I’m alright. Mom was kinda worried about why I nabbed an icepack the moment I got home, but other than that . . .” he trailed off, content to leave the story there.

 

Eala apparently had a different idea. She looked at him for a moment, obviously trying to figure out how to convey a message. Delphin suspected that she hid just how much the mute thing bothered her sometimes. To try to make her feel better, he remained silent as well. Hey, he was trying to be nice, not a genius. Eventually Eala tapped his Miraculous and peered at him. It only took a second for Delphin to figure out what she was trying to say.

 

“Oh, you’re asking about my ability?” he guessed. When she nodded, he grinned at her. “Well, apparently I can see the future. I looked it up when I got home, and apparently dolphins are connected with clairvoyancy, which I don’t really understand. Iniidae wasn’t very helpful either, but then again he was too busy eating fish sticks and lounging in a bowl of warm water.”

 

Eala giggled silently at that mental image, which Delphin gave himself props for. He loved seeing her laugh. The heroine tilted her head in thought before tapping his bracelet again and gesturing to him, trying to say something or ask for something. It took him a minute, but he finally figured out what.

 

“Oh, you want me to try it again?” Delphin asked. Eala nodded, eagerness showing plainly on her face. He really couldn’t see anything wrong with this idea, so he decided to roll with it. “Okay. Clairvoyant Sight!”

 

Just like earlier, Delphin was ripped from his current point in time and thrown into the future with no context and no clues. No wait, that wasn’t entirely true. He knew he was seeing something that would happen soon. He watched from a place he shouldn’t have been able to watch as he and Eala sat in the basket at the top of the Ferris wheel, chatting away. Suddenly, a loud _beep_ filled the air, followed by a flash of royal blue light, vanishing just as quickly as it came. In Delphin’s place now sat a stunned Arion sitting next to a bewildered Eala.

 

Oh great. He was going to untransform in front of Eala if he didn’t high tail it out of there.

 

As soon as he understood, Delphin was shoved back into his own time, suffering once more from that whiplash-like feeling. Eala stared at him with concern that he waved off as best he could.

 

“Nah, I’m alright,” he assured her. “But, um, the only thing I saw was me, untransforming in front of you, so I’d better leave for a minute. Iniidae is probably hungry, which is insane because I just fed him twenty minutes ago. I’ll be right back, Birdie.”

 

Delphin started to stand so he could climb down the Ferris wheel, hoping he could make it in time, when he felt a pair of strong arms wrap around his midsection. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on: Eala was going to help him down and – hopefully – fly away to give him some space to go back to his civilian form. He shot her a grateful look over his shoulder. She honestly could not be a better person if she tried.

 

And that’s what he kind of loved about her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Delphin can see the future, he’s kind of in love with Eala, and I would still like to know why dolphins are connected with future sight, but I don’t really have time or the means to look it up. If anyone, anyone at all would like to enlighten me, I am all ears, people! Thanks for reading!
> 
> ~C


End file.
